Honoring Your Cycle: Redefining What Counts as "Real" Yoga

The Wisdom of Our Cycles

Written by Mina Lange

Do you find yourself calling your practice during your bleed “modified” or “gentle”? Maybe you’re just counting the days until you can return to what you think of as your “real” practice?

I do too. Sometimes unconsciously, I frame my practice during low-energy phases as temporary — as if I’m falling short of some invisible standard. As if anything other than a strong, flowing, sweat-worthy sequence is somehow not enough.

It’s easy to see why. During the follicular phase and around ovulation, we often feel energized, powerful, and physically capable. Estrogen and testosterone are working in our favor — our bodies sync up with society’s expectations of consistency, productivity, and drive. We feel more “on", linear...more like the masculine rhythm the world seems to favor.

But then in the luteal phase. Estrogen dips, and progesterone rises — a hormone that invites softness, rest, introspection. It calls for recovery, deeper nourishment, and more gentleness.

And that’s where the challenge — and the opportunity — lives.

In yoga culture, we often hear about the importance of consistency. Daily practice. Habit. Discipline. But what happens when your body’s rhythm doesn’t fit neatly into that narrative?

I catch myself labeling follicular-phase yoga as the “real” thing, while everything else becomes maintenance — a waiting room for when my energy returns. But this way of thinking is not just limiting; it contradicts the very essence of yoga.

We see this same pattern in the way we treat the prenatal and postnatal journey. Pregnancy, birth, and motherhood are deep, sacred rites of passage. And yet, yoga during these times is often treated as a temporary substitute — a bridge back to the “real” practice.

Here’s the truth: the cyclical nature of the female body is not a disruption of practice — it is the practice. It mirrors the seasons of the earth, the ebb and flow of life.

While the male hormonal system operates in a fairly constant rhythm — a pulse of testosterone every 15 minutes — we move in waves. Monthly fluctuations. Seasons of expansion and contraction. We may journey through pregnancy, miscarriage, postpartum, perimenopause, menopause. None of these are detours. They are the path itself.

And yes — adapting to these rhythms may not always look glamorous. Progress might appear slower. Poses may come and go. We may spend parts of months or years in softer, more reflective spaces. 

But this is not a weakness — it’s wisdom.

The female body, in all its cycles and transformations, brings us into intimate contact with change, with mystery, with the raw power of creation and release. It forces us to confront impermanence. It brings us closer to the reality of life and death. And that is a profoundly yogic experience.

Yoga isn’t about collecting poses or proving consistency. It’s about cultivating presence — building deep trust in your own rhythm, your own energy, your own truth. It’s about honoring the divine feminine intelligence that lives in your cells. The Shakti that knows exactly when to rise, when to retreat, when to rest, and when to roar.

Hormone charts and cycle tracking can be useful tools, and I encourage you to educate yourself, but they are averages — not you. Your cycle, your symptoms, your energy on any given day are not statistics. They are real-time guides to your current experience.

And yet, we often override that inner voice with external expectations. We’ve absorbed years of conditioned “shoulds”:

• I should power through this vinyasa because I’m ovulating.

• I should rest because I’m bleeding, even though I feel fierce.

• I should fast, even if I feel faint.

• I should eat what’s “right” instead of what my body truly needs.

These external expectations can drown out our internal wisdom. Shedding those layers is some of the most courageous yoga we’ll ever do.

When we meet ourselves honestly — raw, intuitive, unfiltered — we tap into a power that isn’t just physical or mental. It’s the quiet, steady power of self-connection. The kind that remains, no matter what our practice looks like… whether we are fertile or not, bleeding regularly or on a pill, stopped bleeding altogether or never did. 

So next time you find yourself judging your practice as “lesser,” pause. Notice that inner dialogue. Ask yourself: Whose voice is that?

Then take a breath. Land in your body. Be here — just as you are.

Our bodies know what to do — just like the trees know how to blossom, bear fruit, and shed their leaves. Some cycles are brief. Others span years. Many overlap. Together, they form a unique, intricate pattern that only you can decipher.

That presence, that radical self-honoring — that is the real yoga.

---

If you’re curious to explore your cyclical nature in depth and how it relates to movement, we warmly invite you to our Women’s Day Retreat on May 25th together with Mina & Marie at the beautiful Studio C in Berlin.